Home  >  COVID-19 Response and Resources

COVID-19 Response and Resources

Updated April 21 

We will continue to update this page as new information comes in.


The health and welfare of our students, faculty and the Richmond/East Bay community is utmost on our minds during this time of the COVID-19 outbreak. We have been carefully monitoring the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Contra Costa Health Services updates and recommendations. 


East Bay Center has decided to close its main site beginning March 13. All East Bay Center concerts and events during this period have also been canceled. 

While the Center remains closed to in-person instruction and events, we are working to sustain continuity of care for the most impacted among our students and families – and in Richmond as a community. Read our most recent Community Newsletter here.

This is what we are doing: 

  • Instruction: Our 65 faculty and 24 staff are actively and creatively delivering remote activities and instruction for all our current 3,500 local school children and our 500 main site students. As we adapt materials and technology, we are providing content to the local school district population of 32,000 students and 1,300 teachers. 
  • Basic Needs: We remain focused on meeting our students basic needs, staying in contact, helping to connect needs with resources, providing mental and emotional health support, along with tutoring and academic assistance while schools remain closed. 
  • Community Partnerships: We are working closely and assisting school district personnel to implement a task force with city, county, and local CBO partners to address the challenges of the schools' most vulnerable families. 
  • Staff are available: All key Center staff members are equipped and set up to work remotely for as long as needed, ensuring that our operations continue uninterrupted.
  • The big picture: We are keenly aware of how our community is experiencing increased  burdens of economic hardship and stress during the pandemic crisis. The Center is actively joining with local partners to address the challenge of underlying conditions and systemic inequities and we are resolved to get through this together.

Thank you for your support during this time. Throughout the days and weeks of this global outbreak, our community’s well-being is our number one concern. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Community and Emergency Resources

We will continue to update this list of community resources. Last Updated: 3/25/2020

Please also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for ongoing updates.



Contra Costa Health Services: 

Questions about COVID-19 shelter-in-place- 

8 AM - 5 PM: Call (844) 729 - 8410

Spanish and English   

24/7 California Peer-run Warm Line:

Peer Support & Resource Referral

Call: (855) 845 - 7415

Chat online: mentalhealthsf.org

Contra Costa Crisis Center: 

Resources & Emotional Support

Call 211 or text "HOPE" to 20121


Free COVID-19 Testing in Richmond

Contra Costa Health Services is working to make it easier for more people to get free COVID-19 testing. 
 You do not need an appointment or to be experiencing symptoms to be tested at these new sites.  
 
Details: 
  • Richmond Civic Center Plaza (parking lot at 25th St. and Nevin Ave.) Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 3:30 pm for walk-in testing. In September, drive-in testing will be added, giving this site the ability to test 400 people per day.   
  • Near the North Richmond Center for Health (Intersection of Second St. and West Ruby Ave.) Open Tuesdays and Fridays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm for walk-in testing.   
At both of these sites, you can make an appointment if you want, or just show up. To make an appointment call 1-844-421-0804 (8 am to 3:30 pm daily) or visiting coronavirus.cchealth.org/get-tested.  

At all of the County's test sites, including in Richmond:
  • Open to anyone who lives or works in the County.
  • Free. Don't need to have health insurance or the ability to pay.
  • If you have insurance, it will get billed.
  • Do not need to have symptoms for a test, but anyone with symptoms should get tested.
  • Patient information is confidential and not shared with law enforcement or other government agencies, including ICE.
  • During test registration you will be asked to show ID, to help the County receive federal reimbursement. But ID is not required to get a test.


Food Resources

Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano: Multiple locations for food assistance and community produce.

Map Of Food Resources in Contra Costa County.


WCCUSD Free Student Meal Pick-ups

The District will continue serving meals (breakfast and lunch) to WCCUSD students during the 2020-2021 school year. Families will need their student's Student ID for meals to be picked up in accordance with the USDA's National School Lunch Program. Mutliple days' worth of meals can be picked up from 8am to 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the following 15 schools: De Anza, El Cerrito, Kennedy, Pinole Valley and Richmond high schools, Lovonya DeJean, Helms, Hercules and Pinole middle schools and Bayview, Nystrom, Riverside and Verde elementary schools, and Montalvin Manor, Peres, and Verde K-9 schools.

Meals will be available at no charge to students who are eligible or attend a Provision 2 school. The following schools are Provision 2: Bayview, Chavez, Coronado, Dover, Downer, Ford, Grant, Highland, King, Lake, Lincoln, Montalvin, Nystrom, Peres, Riverside, Stege, Verde, Wilson, Lovonya DeJean Middle, Helms Middle, Kennedy High, Richmond High, Vista Hills and Greenwood Academy. Families can apply online for eligibility at www.myschoolapps.com/Application. 


Official Updates + Resources